It was a “very good” second quarter, according to Craft Brew Alliance, the makers of Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Kona, Omission and Square Mile Cider. During an earnings call on Thursday, CEO Andy Thomas described the quarter as one that would “go down as a record for CBA.”
There’s still more than a month left in summer but already, pumpkin beer patches are growing on store shelves. The rollout started early this year: New York’s Southern Tier Brewing bottled its popular Pumking offering on May 28 and the first cases of it appeared at a Pennsylvania retail store on June 30.
Last week, Notch Brewing founder Chris Lohring thought that he’d finally found a location where he could build his company’s first production facility. Lohring, who launched Notch as a contract craft brand in 2010, had already visited a dozen properties in Salem, Mass., a coastal town located about 40 minutes north of Boston.
Richmond, Va. is reported to be one of the final contending cities vying for Stone Brewing Co.’s first facility east of the Mississippi River, and the City Council is putting in time off the clock to make sure it doesn’t get skipped over. Though it typically takes August off, the council called a “special meeting” yesterday with regards to permits for publicly owned land proximate to the James River, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Hopunion and Yakima Chief, two of the country’s largest hop suppliers, have announced a merger that will combine both worldwide operations under a single parent company. According to an Aug. 1 press statement, the new entity, Yakima Chief-Hopunion LLC (YCH), has acquired the equity and assets of both companies and related entities.
Having just celebrated its first anniversary in May, Saint Archer Brewing Co. is proving there’s still room to grow in a crowded San Diego craft beer market. The company today announced it’s in the midst of an expansion that will increase production by 45 percent monthly.
Research and consulting firm Technomic today released a new study detailing a few on-premise insights for craft brewers and cider makers. The research project tracked growth for craft beer in restaurants and bars and aimed to clarify several misconceptions about consumers’ purchasing behavior.
Last Friday, the craft brewer invited several members of the media on a hard tour of its new “Funkatorium,” a 9,000 sq. ft. facility dedicated to sour beer production. The new location, which is scheduled to open to the public in September, will allow the company to quadruple the size of its sour beer program.
Around this time last year, New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan was laying out her company’s expansion timeline. The plan, Jordan said, was to sell beer in all 50 U.S. states by 2018. Fast-forward 12 months and the company is already announcing plans to expand into its 38th state, Kentucky.
It seems no corner of America can go for too long without a new craft brewery finding it a suitable place to do business. Mississippi’s Golden Triangle (That’s Columbus, Starkville, and West Point, if’n you’re not a native) is no different. The Dispatch touts SweetGum Brewing Co.’s Standby Red Ale as the Triangle’s “first homegrown beer.”
With $4 million in bank loans secured for the first phase of construction, the 18,000 sq. ft. expansion will primarily enable Allagash to increase its packaging capacity, grow its lab program, implement a new tour route, and create additional office space. The brewery also plans install four fermentation tanks, said Naomi Neville, the brewery’s national sales director.
One of the country’s oldest breweries is dipping its toe into a sea of craft beer SKUs. The 153-year old Pittsburgh Brewing Company, which currently produces six different premium lager and light lager brands, is rolling out its first craft offering under a new label: Block House Brewing.
In its second quarter earnings report, the Boston Beer Company today announced net revenue growth of 28 percent, an increase of $50.3 million over the same period last year. Second quarter core shipment volume of approximately 1.1 million barrels represents growth of 25 percent over the same period last year.
The idea of a mega merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller Plc. may soon skunk like a bottle of Bud left out in the sun for too long. Given the announcement that Molson Coors CEO Peter Swinburn will retire at the end of 2014, an analyst for Edward Jones told Bloomberg Businessweek that if such a merger were, in fact, “imminent,” a change in the top chair would be unlikely, hinting the company is thus not readying itself for consolidation.
